Introductions. Jared asked people in the audience to introduce themselves to someone they did not know. They did so.

Committee Reports:

Home Tour. Andrew Stober reported that PSCA had a great Home Tour last Saturday, October 29. Among the homes visited were those of Ilene, Ricardo, Frank, Dana and his. Ninety people participated and PSCA netted almost $4,000. The home owners loved it and participants made contacts. Andrew mentioned that he still has two raffles available and people have an excellent chance to win. He will sell raffle tickets at the end of the meeting and also give people Gen 3 bags and Home Tour guides.

Zoning. Tom indicated that, due to the election, the Zoning Committee will meet on Tuesday, November 15 at 7:00 PM at St. Maron’s Church. The cases to be reviewed include: 1226 S. Sheridan Street, 1212 Mildred Street, 1509-11 S. Franklin Street and 610-12 Wharton Street.

Beautification. Sarah reported that they are closing Passyunk Garden for the season and will have a big workday this Saturday, November 5 between 9:00 AM and 1:00 PM. There will be tree planting on November 19 and also canvassing to see who wants trees for the spring. Requests for spring trees have to be in by November 25. Sarah will be at the Fountain every Wednesday until Thanksgiving to inform people about the availability of trees. She also mentioned that they will be rebooting tree tenders on November 9 at the Triangle Tavern.

Communication. Sarah reported that PSCA communication will be transitioning from Erika Reinhard who recently got married and moved out of the neighborhood. She called for and received volunteers who are interested in working on PSCAs social media. They include, Alysea MacDonald, Josh Kruger, Katie Castiglione and Holly Keefe.

Speaker. Zack Duberstein, Principal of the Vare/Washington School was introduced. He mentioned that Vare/Washington was just named a Teach for America school to learn from. It is ranked ninth out of 55 elementary schools in Philadelphia. The school received a $100,000 learning grant and is in the running for other grants. Vare/Washington is doing really cool things. It is working with the United Way. It has improved its landscaping recently. It’s always looking for volunteers to do things such as read with kids. There are plans to restructure the school yard and basketball courts. The school has two roof decks that have never been used since its founding in 1935. Zack reported that it also is about to undertake a Mandarin emergence program, which would be the first in Pennsylvania. He is looking for letters of support from the community. Ilene asked if students can volunteer in Columbus Playground on Saturdays and Zack said yes. He can be reached at zduberstein@philasd.org.

Officer Ace Delgado reported that there will be a toy drive on between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM, on Saturday, November 12 and 19 in the Walmart parking lot. They are looking for donations for kids of all ages, including gift cards.

Theresa Rose spoke about the 9th Street Stock Exchange. She came up with the idea, is the project curator and is working with the Mural Arts program and eight businesses along 9th Street. The businesses are selling other businesses products on a weekly basis. The eight businesses represent a variety of ethnic backgrounds and she asked that they come up with a product best representing their store. For example, Fante’s had a pasta machine. On Wednesday of each week the stores rotate selling other store’s products and the money from the product sold is returned to the original store without any commissions. There are cash only transactions. The eight stores are identified by big white signs, everything is in English and Spanish and the Stock Exchange will operate until December 7.

Jared ended the meeting by reminding people that they can buy raffles and the December 6 membership meeting will be a holiday party with a location to be determined.

The meeting adjourned at 7:08 PM.

Submitted by Jeff Brown.

Addendum: Ricardo Silva reported after the meeting that the next Spanish/English language exchange would be at Iztaccihuatl – Philadelphia 1122 S 8th St, Thursday November 17th 7-9pm. We welcome all people from beginners to really fluent in either language they want to practice.